Mike Clay and Jay Scøtt, two of today’s hottest pop songwriters, are joining forces to launch today Clay Scottan irresistible debut album grooves pop-soul-folk which, in an ideal world, would serve as a soundtrack to the coming summer. In the company of the two young musicians, we wonder about the impenetrable mystery of Quebec commercial radio stations and the art of laying a hit.
A hit ? Hush! breathes Mike Clay, figurehead of the Clay and Friends collective. “First of all, I never say the ‘h’ word, even though I have plaques on my walls that prove it exists,” he says, pointing to the wall behind him.
My best lines, I didn’t write them, I heard them in the street or at a party
We see on the other side of the video camera the platinum certification plate (80,000 digital sales in Canada) of the song Sky of FouKi (with Alicia Moffet), one of hits to which he collaborated as an author. Jay Scøtt is obviously not left out. You should have heard the enthusiasm of the crowd at Place Bell last Saturday night when he joined FouKi on stage to sing Copilotone of the largest hits pop of recent years in Quebec.
“I often prowl the top 100 radio charts, at different levels,” says Clay, without giving too much importance to the sales or the number of rotations of his songs on the FM airwaves. Each on their side, Mike and Jay familiarize themselves with the new stars (and a little older, Mike having notably collaborated with Ariane Moffatt and Louis-Jean Cormier) and the peaks of the charts. Together, it could only cause sparks: “Between the first and the last song that we wrote together, we recognize the evolution, comments Jay. We tamed each other during the collaboration. We are proud of this project, which is very similar to us. »
Mike quotes a stanza from Let’s Push Things Forwardsongs by London grime artist The Streets: ” Cult classic, not bestseller. “Making meaningful songs, not commercial hits, that’s the goal. There are no tricks, only good intuitions. In the text, for example: “Me, I sing as I speak, says Mike. My best lines, I didn’t write them, I heard them in the street or in a party. I feel that when we sing like when we talk to each other, naturally, and we make songs out of it, it can work. Jay agrees.
Mike: “When I think of Jay Scøtt, I think of a style of guitar-vocal songs; I think when you think of me, people say to themselves: “That’s the guy who sings, smiles and jumps around on a stage.” On this album, Jay sings on beats I did, that’s how we got out of our comfort zones. There are only eight songs on this first duet album, and not one to throw away. With their catchy pop blending folk, hip-hop and soul, Clay and Scøtt hope to inject a dose of groove still too uncommon in our French-speaking radio landscape.
“Quebec,” Mike points out, “is not yet very familiar with the groove — or, more specifically, to the fusion of styles that groove. Take disco and funk to make groove in French without it turning into a cheesecake, it’s difficult. I don’t know if we found the recipe, but it is in any case a challenge fun that represents us, as well as the musicians around us. »
Mike and Jay met on Instagram, where Mike Clay used to offer video capsules called All Day Jam, the idea being to compose, then perform, a song in one day with a new collaborator. He had extended the invitation to Jay “two weeks before his career exploded”, thanks to the success of Copilotsays Mike.
“I wasn’t doing full-time music yet, recalls Jay Scøtt, I still had a day job. And then I get his message: “Hey! It’s the singer of Clay and Friends who just wrote to invite me to his house! I’m coming, we compose Westmount in a hurry, we put the song on the Internet, and there is a nice craze. People were asking us when we were going to release it. »
Their working sessions were spread over three years. “When we had a little time, we invested it in our musical relationship, explains Jay. Often, we talked for two hours about our lives before starting to work. Me, my career was starting to take off, I needed advice, a mentor like Mike. He assisted me in all of this. Mike says he’s had a completely different career path, which he describes as “a ten-year slow rise.” It was unique to see Jay go through what he went through. He was like, “Hey! I just flew for the first time!” “Hey ! I just did my first show, everyone knew the lyrics!” “Hey ! someone gave me a paper to sign, what are copyright royalties?” »
Clay Scott, by the eponymous duo, released today on the 117 Records label.